Content

The contemporary American poet John Ashbery once said that the great themes of poetry are “death, love, [and] the weather”. As such, poetry is typically turned to at moments when we, as individuals or as communities, struggle to understand the extremities of feeling, whether these be feelings of joy, terror, or despair. Poetry is often used on occasions of celebration (such as at weddings) or of mourning, and it is often a preferred mode when we seek to articulate our relationship with the Other, experiences of intimacy and separation, and the boundaries of the self. This unit on poetry will consider these aspects of poetry (as both an ‘elite’ art form and a trope in popular culture), by exploring different modes and forms of poetry, and the ways in which poetry operates in the public sphere to articulate the highly personal. On completion of this unit, students will have an understanding of the Western poetic tradition, including the major poetic forms, types of poetic affect, and the roles of poetry in public culture.